Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Daily Mobility of the Elderly Living in Small Cities in Lodz Province.

The article presents a study into the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the daily mobility of those over 60 residing in small towns in the Lodz Province. The study determines the impact on the trip destination, trip frequency, preferred means of transport, distance and duration of trips, and length of the target activity. To achieve these objectives, a survey was conducted using the CATI technique (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing), which comprised 500 residents of small towns in the Lodz Province aged 60+, who were divided into three classes of small towns (by population size). In order to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the daily mobility of those over 60, the tools the authors decided to use descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing. Overall, the pandemic was found to have had only a minor impact on the changes in transport behavior of those over 60 in small towns. Only 9% of respondents declared any effect on their daily mobility. The impact mainly involved a reduction in travel time and frequency, primarily among the oldest residents. Since a low level of daily mobility leads to low social activity, especially for the elderly-with a consequent sense of loneliness or even depression-towns should take measures to improve the already poor situation, one that has been further exacerbated by the pandemic.

Uncertainties in Liner Shipping and Ship Schedule Recovery: A State-of-the-Art Review

Each shipping line is expected to establish a reliable operating model, and the design of ship schedules is a key operational consideration. Long-term profits for shipping lines can be expected from a well-designed ship schedule. In today’s liner service design, managing the time factor is critical. Shipping schedules are prone to different unexpected disruptions. Such disruptions would necessitate a near-real-time analysis of port capacity and re-design of the original ship schedule to offset the negative externalities. Ship schedule recovery strategies should be implemented to mitigate the effects caused by disruptions at ports or at sea, which may include, but are not limited to, ship sailing speed adjustment, handling rate adjustment at ports, port skipping, and port skipping with container diversion. A proper selection of ship schedule recovery strategies is expected to minimize deviations from the original ship schedule and reduce delays in the delivery of cargoes to the destination ports. This article offers a thorough review of the current liner shipping research primarily focusing on two major themes: (1) uncertainties in liner shipping operations;and (2) ship schedule recovery in response to disruptive events. On the basis of a detailed review of the available literature, the obtained results are carefully investigated, and limitations in the current state-of-the-art are determined for every group of studies. Furthermore, representative mathematical models are provided that could be further used in future research efforts dealing with uncertainties in liner shipping and ship schedule recovery. Last but not least, a few prospective research avenues are suggested for further investigation.

The Moral, Ethical, Personal, and Professional Challenges Faced by Physicians during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic, apart from the main problems concerning the health and life of patients, sparked a discussion about physicians' moral and social professional attitudes. During a pandemic, physicians have the same ethical, moral, and medical responsibilities, however, the situation is different since they are self-exposed to a danger, which may influence their willingness to work. The problem of the professional moral attitudes of health care workers, recurring in ethical discussions, prompts us to define the limits of the duties of physicians in the event of a pandemic, hence this research aimed to assess these duties from an ethical perspective and to define their boundaries and scope. The study was conducted in May and June 2020 in the city of Lublin, covering all medical centers, and the questionnaire was completed by 549 physicians. The research was conducted in four areas: emergency standby in the event of a disaster, even if it is not requested; willingness to work overtime in the event of a disaster, even without payment; willingness to take health risks by caring for people who are infectious or exposed to hazardous substances; readiness to be transferred to other departments in the event of a disaster. Although most of the respondents declared to be agreed on personal sacrifices in the performance of professional duties, they were not prepared for a high level of personal risk when working in a pandemic. Excessive workload, its overwhelming nature, and personal risk are not conducive to readiness to work overtime, especially without pay. Research shows how important it is to respect the rights and interests of all parties involved in a pandemic. Physicians' duty to care for a patient is also conditioned by the duty to protect themselves and should not be a tool for intimidating and depersonalizing their social and professional lives.

Spatiotemporal Changeability of the Load of the Urban Road Transport System under Permanent and Short-Term Legal and Administrative Retail Restrictions

In Poland, in 2018, the act on Sunday retail restrictions was introduced, changing citizen's spatial mobility (altered patterns of transport behaviour related to shopping on a weekly scale). Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2020) on transport behaviour during this time has had an impact, since people were encouraged to stay at home and limit their mobility to an absolute minimum. As a result, the main aim of the article was to identify spatiotemporal changeability of the load of the urban road transport system under permanent and short-term legal and administrative retail restrictions and to determine its spatial and temporal nature on the example of Łódź(a big city in central Poland) during 2018–2021. For that purpose, the authors used three types of source data, i.e., official governmental normative data (acts, ordinances, etc.), informative data (official pandemic announcements issued during ministerial press conferences, governmental social media content, etc.), and objective empirical data (induction loops). The pandemic restrictions imposed on top of the existing permanent retail restrictions were shown to distinctly shape the weekly distribution of traffic. In weeks with non-trading Sundays, the percentage of vehicle traffic on weekdays was substantially higher than on weekends, which was particularly noticeable during the first year of the pandemic (2020). Long-term observations have also shown that people began to plan their weekends differently upon the initial implementation of Sunday retail restrictions.

Spatial Dimension of Transport Exclusion Related to Statutory Trade Restriction—The Use of ITS Tools in Studies of Sustainable Urban Development

The problem of statutory restrictions of the freedom to conduct business activities is a subject addressed by many researchers. On the other hand, there is little research into the spatial aspect of this phenomenon and its impact on the quality of life of the inhabitants of urban centres in terms of their exclusion from one of the key motivations for travelling, namely shopping trips. The main purpose of the article is to determine the impact of the introduction of a statutory restriction on Sunday trading on sustainable urban development in terms of identifying areas excluded from free access to such services within a large urban settlement in Poland. Our studies on accessibility by car utilised data from ITS systems, the assumptions of the probabilistic Huff Model, and methods to determine market catchment areas. The data used in the study were based on the results of a questionnaire survey. The research procedure was conducted for eight scenarios that covered two periods (March 2019 and November 2020) on trading and non-trading Sundays. The conducted research shows that changes in the temporal accessibility of grocery shops in Łódź within the analysed periods are noticeable for trading and non-trading Sundays. In both cases, accessibility by private car is decidedly worse on non-trading Sundays. Transport exclusion from accessibility to grocery shops applies, in particular, to residents of peripheral areas of the city and is further compounded by the statutory Sunday retail restrictions implemented nationwide.